Bathing suit with security belt



May 19, 1970 J. D. STAMATIOU BATHING SUIT WITH SECURITY BELT Filed June 5, 1967 INVENTOR JOHN DEMETR/OS STAMAT/OU ATTORNEYS y 970 -14. D. STA MATICU 3,512,179"

BATHING SUI"; WITH SECURITY BELT Filed June 5, 1967 INVENTOR JOHN DEMETR/OS STAMAT/OU y M I ATTORNEYS Uted States Patent 3,512,179 BATHING SUIT WITH SECURITY BELT John Demetrius Stamatiou, 8 Aginitou St., Ilissia, Athens, Greece Filed June 5, 1967, Ser. No. 643,422 Claims priority, applicratiolrl Greece, June 3, 1966, 3 ,3 0 Int. Cl. A4141 /00 US. Cl. 2-67 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bathing garment construction wherein a security belt is provided including waist-encircling means of a relatively heavy material adapted to be secured to and to be disposed inside a bathing suit of a relatively light material such as bathing trousers, and being adapted to tightly encircle the waist of the wearer and to resist removal of the bathing suit in the event of a sudden plunge into the water or in the event of failure of holding means of the suit. Preferably, crotch means are provided adapted to extend under the crotch of the wearer and most preferably, the waist-encircling and crotch means are formed from a one-piece blank of fabric material.

This invention relates to a bathing garment construction and more particularly to a construction in which a bathing suit is securely held on the wearer to resist re moval and to provide maximum comfort.

In bathing garments of the prior art, difficulty has been encountered in slippage of the garment from the wearer in the event of a sudden plunge into the water min the event of failure or decomposition of the holding means of the garment, such as cords, buttons, slip fasteners, clamps, buckles, stitches, hooks, zippers, etc. The difiiculties have been particularly acute when the bathing garment is of a lightweight material as is often times the case, especially in the case of slip trousers having integral leg portions which encircle portions or all of the leg of the wearer. Such difiiculties have been encountered with respect to bathing garments for use by both men and women, and the invention is applicable to both.

This invention was evolved with the general object of overcoming such difficulties of prior construction and of providing a construction in which a bathing suit is securely held on the wearer to resist removal and to provide maximum comfort.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bathing garment which can be manufactured with minimum expense and which is very durable, while being securely held on the wearer and providing maximum comfort.

According to this invention, a bathing garment constmction is provided wherein waist-encircling means are adapted to be secured to and to be disposed inside a bathing suit, with the waist-encircling means being of a relatively heavy material and being adapted to tightly encircle the waist. With this feature, the suit will not be lost and will not slip substantially in the case of a sudden plunge into the water or in the event of failure or decomposition of any holding means or connectors, such as cords, buttons, slip fasteners, clasps, buckles, stitches, hooks, zippers, etc.

In accordance with an important feature of the invention, crotch means are provided adapted to extend downward from the rear of the waist-encircling means, thence under the crotch of the wearer and thence upwardly to the front of the waist-encircling means.

In accordance with a more specific feature of the invention, the waist-encircling means and the crotch means are formed from a one-piece blank of a fabric material.

Another specific feature of the invention is in the con- Patented May 19, 1970 ice figuration of the one-piece blank which facilitates forming of the waist-encircling and crotch means.

In accordance with a further specific feature of the invention, the bathing suit is secured to the back portion of the waist-encircling means.

The invention is particularly advantageous when the bathing suit is of a relatively light material, which is especially desirable when the bathing suit is in the form of slip trousers having leg portions which encircle portions or all of the legs of the wearer. I

This invention contemplates other objects, features and advantages which will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment and in which: a

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a bathing suit wherein a security belt is provided,,in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view take "ubistantially along line II--II of FIG. 1 and illustrating one form of holding means ofthe bathing suit itself;

FIG. -3 is a front elevational View of the security belt of this invention, prio; to assembly within the bathing suit; and

FIG. 4 illustrates the configuration of a .one-pieceblank' of a fabric material from which the security belt is formed. 7 I

Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 generally designates a bathing suit construction wherein a security belt generally designated by reference numeral 11 is disposed inside a bathing suit 12, which may be either a mans or a womans suit. Although applicable-to other forms of suits, the lIlVCl'lilOlLiS particularly desirable when the suit is formed of a relatively lightweight material, and the illustrated suit 12 is in the form of slip trousers, including leg portions 13 and 14. Although only the upper parts of the leg portions 13 and 14 are illustrated, it will be understood that they may encircle substantially all of I the legs of the wearer, if desired.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bathing suit 12 may desirably include the cord or drawstring 16 forencircling the waist of the wearer, disposed in a channel formed by a folding inwardly an upper edge portion of the suit 12, the cord or drawstring 16 having end portions adapted to be pulled, v I i and to be tied for holding the suit on the wearer; In

when the conventional holding means are tightened in an attempt to prevent removal of the suit, they are apt to cause severe discomfort to the wearer, and it is desirable to avoid such severe tightening of theconventional holding means of the bathing suit.

In accordance with this invention, the security belt 11 is provided which as shown in FIG. 3 includes waistencircling means 19 of a relatively heavy material, adapted to tightly encircle the Waist of the wearer. Preferably, the bathing suit 12 is secured to a rear portion of the waist-encircling means 19, as by securing a turnedin flap 21 of the bathing suit 12 to the back portion of the waist-encircling means 19, through stitches 22. It will be understood that other forms of securing means may be provided.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the waist-encircling means 19 and the crotch means 20 are formed from a one-piece blank of a fabric material.

When the one-piece blank is disposed in a plane, before formation into the waist-encircling and crotch means, it has a configuration as shown in FIG. 4.'As shown, there are two opposite end edges 23 and 24 in generally parallel relation to each other and transverse to a central line of symmetry, indicated by broken line 25. The blank further has two side edges 27 and 28 each of which extends from an end of the end edge 23 in generally parallel relation to the line 25, thence inwardly to form a narrowed portion 29 and thence outwardly away from the line 25 to converge toward the end edge 24 and to form twoarm-like extensions 31 and 32. In the formation of the security belt, the arm-like extensions 31 and 32 are turned to dispose the ends thereof in proximity to each other and they are secured in proximity to and in generally parallel relation to the edge 23, so as to form the waist-encircling means 19.

It will be noted that both the waist-encircling means 19 and the crotch means 20 are, for the most part, relatively wide and flat, so as to engage extended surface areas of the body of the wearer, and so as to provide maximum comfort.

The arm-like extensions 31 and 32 may desirably be stitched in place, and the fabric may have sufiicient stretchability to facilitate putting the belt on. If desired, however, the belt could be of a relatively unstretchable fabric, and suitable releasable holding means could be provided.

It will beunderstood that other modifications and variations may be eifected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of this invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a bathing garment construction, a bathing suit including waist-encircling means and a pair of leg-encircling means, manually operable releasable holding means associated With a front portion of said waist-encircling means whereby said bathing suit may be readily put on or taken off, and security means secured to said bathing suit inside said Waist-encircling means of said bathing suit for extending securely around the waist of the wearer, said security means including a front portion inside said front portion of said waist-encircling means of said bathing suit, said front portion of said security means being free from said front portion of said waist-encircling means of said bathing suit and being free from said holding means to allow operation of said manually operable releasable holding means, and means attaching said back portion of said security means to the lnside of the back portion of said waist-encircling means of said bathing suit to retain said bathing suit on the wearer in the event of inadverent loosening of said manually operable releasable holding means.

2. In a bathing garment construction defined in claim 1, said front portion of said security means including a stretchable fabric material.

3. In a bathing garment construction as defined in claim 1, said attaching means for the back position of said security means comprising stitching.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,701,933 2/1929 Rivkin 267 1,781,271 11/1930 Cowdrey 267 2,446,326 8/1948 Guithues. 2,790,176 4/1957 Cunningham 267 2,983,924 5/1961 Cohen et al. 267

H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

